Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program, which can control a robot.
Description of the Related Art
An industrial robot having a plurality of arms is conventionally used to assemble products automatically in a factory. In this case, it is necessary to teach the robot how to operate appropriately in such a way as to prevent an arm from colliding with anther arm or an object (e.g., a workpiece) existing in a working area. In particular, a great deal of time is required to adjust operation timing to prevent the arms from colliding with each other in the teaching operation. As discussed in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-217410, there is a conventional method for performing the teaching operation by using three-dimensional models of a robot and a workpiece to simulate a robot operation while checking a possible interference. However, accurately checking a possible interference based on only the simulation is not feasible because there are significant differences between the simulation and actual three-dimensional shape and operations of the robot. Therefore, finally checking the presence of any possible interference by causing the robot to perform actual operations based on control data is required.
However, there is a higher possibility that the robot will cause a collision when robot controlling data is replayed by an actual machine in a state where the interference check is insufficient. Further, in a situation that two or more robot arms are positioned intricately and closely by a narrow margin, there will be a case that an observer checks whether the arms interfere with each other by using an actual machine. In such a case, it is difficult to check whether a possible interference portion is really brought into contact with something, because the actual robot itself obstructs the observation.